Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1887-06-17
KILLING BY MACHINERY.
How Hogs Are Slaughtered and Dressed
In the Chicago Abattoirs.

How Hogs Are Slaughtered and Dressed
In the Chicago Abattoirs.
The use of machinery in slaughter
ing is confined almost altogether to
Negotiations, though bccvcs, after be-
ing shot in the brain or stunned by
hammer blows upon the forehead, are
lifted by steam power appliances to the
hanging position, in which their throats
are cut and cntrails removed. At the
head of hog-slaughtcring gangway
are several small pens, in one or more
OF which workmcn are busy ailiXing
loop-chains to the hind legs of the ami
mails. An attendant pulls lever, and
the hog is quickly lifted clear of the
pen and carried head downward upon
hanging-rail to the killing-pcn. Here
stands the stickcr, covered with blood
and knife in hand. AS the hogs slide
slowly past him, he scizcs each one by
fore leg, pulls the throat towards
him and quickly picrccs the heart with
his knife, taking care TO make an open
ing in the breast and neck large enough
TO permit u free and rapid flow of the
blood In two minutes the sliding
carcass has reached the end of the
sticking pen, where life is sup
posed to be extinct, though it some
times happens that this is not the case
Here II workman removes the chain
from the leg and places it over wire,
on which it slides back TO the catching
A Il . H.,
scalding vat, which is eight feet wide
and thirty feet long, and filled with water
kcptatboiing temperatures by constant
injection of steam. Two workmcn float
this carcass through the tub and upon
II large iron cradle operated by steam
power which lifts the carcass from the
vat and throws it upon the table. An
iron hook is here inserted in the Jaw
and affixed TO one of the links of an
endless chain, which draws the steam
ing carcass, head first, into the scrap
ing machine. This (Bouchard' con-
sists of II series of wheels whose peri
pherics are protruding, elastic steel
blades, each sixteen inches long and
four wide, and set in triplcts. Thc
ends of the blades are turned sharply
toward the sixteenth part of an inch,
forming rims of the sharpness Of the
bent edge of II sheet of zinc. There are
nine of these wheels all revolving in n
direction the reverse of that in which
the carcass is drawn through the ma
chine. The wheels are automatically
arranged so that hogs of different sizes
and shapes are cleaned of four-lfths of
the hair. The remaining hair is then re-
moved by hand-scrapcrs. The head is
severed by n few strokes of large knife,
in the hands of an expert workman,
while another is adjusting the gambrel
and pulls lever, which lifts the car
cass and suspcnds it from the overhead
track down whose incline il slides to
the cutting and clcaning-room. Each
slaughter gang consists of 120 men
working between the catching-pens
and the hanging or chill-room, in
which the carcasses are left hanging
over night, in order that all animal
heat may have disappeared from the
meat before it is sent to the packing
department. Each pig-stickor kills
nearly 500 animals an hour; and the
gang of l2O men can slaughter, scrape
and dress 1000 hogs in ten hours, with
the assistance of this labor-saving ma
chincry, whereas, by the old methods
the same number of men could kill and
clean but 1,6oO hogs Chicago Cor.
SDriH1feM ron Times.